Kristina’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Once upon a time a long, long time ago, I had a blog on which I interviewed a lot of forward-thinking people in the design and food industries. One of those people was Rachel Grisewood, previous CEO and founder of Manna From Heaven and the Sydney Biscuit Company. After I interviewed Rachel in her then Sydney factory, she was so kind as to share her chocolate chip cookie recipe with me (though admittedly it had already been printed in the Sydney Morning Herald six years prior). It has ever since become my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe because it is so simple, it’s even perfect for children to learn to make. Please experiment in adding your own favorite extracts and types of chocolate to the mix and see if it doesn’t just become your favorite recipe as well. –Kristina

About Kristina: I am the food and drinks editor here at Design*Sponge and am happy to be considered part of such a talented team!

See my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe after the jump!

Organic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

13 tablespoons (180g) salted butter

3/4 cup plus two tablespoons (180g) turbinado sugar

1.5 egg yolks

3.5 ounces (100g) milk chocolate, finely chopped

6 ounces (160g) dark chocolate, finely chopped

2- 1/4 cups (300g) plain flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract

Make the cookies

Cream the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg yolks. Fold in the chocolate, flour, baking powder and vanilla extract. The dough will remain a tad crumbly. Divide dough in half and roll into two logs. (I flatten them on all sides to make square-ish cookies). Refrigerate for a few hours until firm. A few minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 325F/160C. Wait until the very last minute to remove the first log of dough from the refrigerator. Slice the log into half-inch thick slices. Line two baking trays with paper and place the cookies a little bit apart. If you have more room, remove the second log from the refrigerator and slice it, too. Place whatever slices won’t fit on the trays back in the refrigerator until they are ready to go in the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes or until just golden underneath. Cool on a rack. Makes about 48 2×2 biscuits.

Why I love this recipe

Any way you choose to make these, this recipe is the perfect base for anything you could possibly desire in a chocolate chip cookie. I like to make double batches and freeze three-quarters of the dough in three logs, baking the fourth log immediately. Sometimes I even divide the dough into four parts before adding chocolate and make different types of chocolate chip cookies. The recipe comes together so quickly and with minimal dirty dishes, it’s easy to get carried away and make tons of cookies. Sometimes I do.

Hi A, sorry for the inconsistency with Rachel’s recipe title and the chocolate I used to make the images. Unfortunately in Italy in the summer chocolate isn’t stocked, so to make these images I had to get what was available. People should use their favorite chocolate. Apologies again for any confusion. K

Hi Nina, I usually put them in the refrigerator and have an omelette for breakfast the next day, especially in this case because you have the whites too. A little yolk mixed in won’t hurt it! Alternatively, I’d say try using the two whole yolks and see how it turns out.

I made these this weekend and they are exceptional! The dough comes together quickly and easily and the finished cookies were so buttery and delicious. The cookies look dry but are perfectly chewy and all my friends came back for seconds. I will definitely be making batches of this dough to freeze and have on hand for a cookie emergency!

If 1-4/5 is supposed to mean 1 cup + 4/5th cups of sugar, the recipe has an error. I used that measurement instead of the 180g and it’s at least twice 180g. I now have a bowl of turbinado sugar with a little bit of (quite expensive) other ingredients mixed in. Arg!

I made these today adding crushed candy canes to half the dough. They turned out well even though I autopiloted and used unsalted butter. Whoops! Don’t make my mistake. All my other holiday cookie recipes use unsalted. I’ll try again with the proper butter soon.

I made these cookies on Saturday. Going exactly as the recipe states the dough was not moist enough to make a log (imagine sand with a tab bit of water). I’m a fairly good baker and have had issues like this before. I added a tbs more butter and threw in the rest of the egg yolk. That helped it out so that I could at least get it to hold together.
I left in in the fridge for a few hours before attempting to bake. 4/18 cookies actually turned out like cookies and tasted horrible. It was quite disappointing. I ended up making a typical batch of chocolate chip cookies (#1 google result). I LOVE design sponge and I’ve never tried a recipe that has been posted but after this experience, I won’t ever again.

I’d give it 1/10, simply because I had .5 oz left of Ghirardelli milk chocolate.

I just made these cookies and they are AMAZING! My husband declared they were the best cookies he’d ever had, and I bake a lot of cookies! I used my mixer instead of folding the dough together because the dough was a little stiff for folding. I was just careful not to over mix. I weighed my ingredients and had no troubles. I highly recommend this recipe

I have made these cookies TWICE and twice the dough fell apart when it came to cutting them! I even modified the recipe by freezing the dough and adding 1/4 cup less flour… this did nothing for the crumbliness. I ended up warming them in my hands and mashing them into a cookie-like shape. Fortunately for this recipe, the cookies are delicious. Otherwise, I would not have made them again.

I tried this recipe twice, it was a bit difficult but once I realised this is essentially a ‘chocolate chip shortbread’ then it made total sense and tastes great. Shortbread dough is notoriously dry/crumbly. Classic shortbread proportions are 3 flour, 2 butter, 1 sugar, and this recipe has more flour in the ratio. I added more egg yolk (using 2 whole yolks) and also just used my hands to warm/mash the dough to form the cookies. Make sure you beat the eggs in, not fold. Otherwise I suggest upping the butter and lowering the flour. Hope this comment helps other people trying this recipe for Christmas!

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